I Am All About the Witchcraft, Doncha Know

Anti feminists look like me. Seriously, I am wearing that outfit as I type this, though not with the apron, because aprons are inside clothing, like bathrobes. Do try to have some class next time, dear. (edited: i managed to fix random underline with commenters' help. thanks guys!)

"The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians."

- Pat Robertson

I didn't get that from Pat Robertson's website, I got that from the blog of a young woman planning to submit to her future husband, and convert to Orthodox Judaism why believing in Jesus as the Messiah. That's a whole 'nother post for a whole 'nother blogger, but the fact that this young woman is taking Pat Robertson's word on what feminism is motivates me to do what I do.

This young women reads the above quote and thinks, "Oh, well, I don't want to be a feminist if it means killing my children, selling out to the commies and eating bush. Just not into that, sorry." The fact that the above quote is completely insane and intersects with reality only in the sense that those are indeed words is irrelevant. Millions of women believe that feminism is something it is not.

Socialism/Destroying Capitalism: I am a feminist and a socialist, but notice that I have to specify that. I have to use "and" because feminism and socialism are two different things. Some feminists are socialist, but most are not and socialism is not a central tenant of feminism. So, where does Pat get that from? Feminists are generally very concerned with the treatment of poor women, so feminists will often argue in favor of welfare, food stamps and WIC. Yes, according to Pat, feeding and sheltering poor women and their children is evil.

Think about that for a bit, antifeminist.

Practicing Witchcraft: First of all, I suspect that is simply Pat's way of saying "wicked,evil person". I assure you I am not an evil person, and I'm offended you think I am. That's rude at best. You don't even know me. Secondly, two groups of people in the US believe in witchcraft as an actual, real thing that affects events: fundamentalist Christians and certain pagan groups. (Not all pagans believe in witchcraft, mind you.) Now, all the pagans I know are serious feminists, but most feminists I know are not pagans. So, the vast majority of feminists regard accusations of witchcraft as being, well, lolwut? It's laughable. Obviously, since I find the concept of witchcraft to be rather silly, I am not practicing it.

Antifamily/Husband Leaving: Most feminists I know are married and have or want children. We're not some different species, dear. We live in the same general culture you do, and the general culture promotes getting married and having babies. (Seriously, the celebrity bump watch is getting really creepy.) As for divorce, I hate to tell you this, but atheists have the lowest divorce rate and fundamentalist Christians and Jews have the highest divorce rate.

Killing of Children: At first I found that kind of shocking, and then I remembered Pat considers a newly fertilized egg to be the same thing as a toddler, so abortion. Look, people who are prochoice do not consider a fetus to be the same thing as a child. We just don't. If you can wrap your mind around that, you can understand why we don't consider a fetus to be of more importance than the woman it's inside. I'm sorry you consider yourself as less important than a fertilized egg, but I'm not a child murderer.

Becoming Lesbians: Lina, Lina, Lina, one does not "become" a lesbian. One can certainly become a feminist, or become poor, or become ill or become a Jesus worshipping . . . Jew? Really, you are confusing. One cannot become a lesbian. One is either a woman who is sexually attracted to other women or one is not. I am a feminist and I am not sexually attracted to other women. I like me the penis. A lot. Of the feminists I know and talk to on a regular basis, 75% have no attraction to other women. And of the 25% who do have at least some attraction to other women, about half are married to men and are faithful to their husbands. So, either we're spectacularly bad at becoming lesbians, or that has nothing to do with being a feminist. You decide.

So, to recap, Pat Robertson has no idea what feminism is and I dress like an antifeminist.

Where Have All the Ladies Gone?

I do enjoy a good screed in the style of Ladies Against Feminism, and Modesty Is Next to Beauty has given me an early Christmas present.

Where Have All the Ladies Gone?

Where have all the ladies gone? into our local grocery stores, onto the construction sites, into our police cars and into burning houses.

Amusingly, I would assume the good godly women would be in their grocery stores. After all, who's buying the food in our traditionalist marriage? I find it terribly amusing that she seems to think that female grocery store cashiers are some sort of feminist dream.

"[I]nto burning houses", btw, refers to female firefighters, not to women with curious hobbies or serious suicidal urges. That took me a minute.

behind our pulpits. . . .

Spreading across our nation and world like a deadly flu.

This implies two very unfortunate things. (1) That the author, Katie, believes that prior to the 1960s women were kept in compounds and then were released by Gloria Steinem, and that (2) women and viruses that kill millions have something in common. Yeah.

Taking authority into hands and leaving biblical womanhood behind.

Into whose hands, Katie? I wouldn't be so concerned, but I suspect you are or will be homeschooling children. Do try to learn English, okay?

What a sad day we live in,

DAYS! Sad DAYS!

where a woman would rather go out and fight a war or arrest somebody, build a house or preach

dreams, you need a penis to fulfill them.

(Note to readers this does not mean spreading the gospel which is right for ALL to do, this means preaching behind a pulpit.) then to have children and take care of them, and her husband, but does she take care of her husband? certainly not. Women of today have taken a height role of authority, fighting wars and preaching.

"Height" is not the word you are looking for. Katie, seriously, you are killing me here. Look, I don't know too many women who choose not to have children, nor do I know too many who don't care for their children. Our husbands, being adults, can take care of themselves. And help with the children, while they're at it.

A fine job of such, leaving thoughts of children in the dust, off to business like jobs, I feel in my opinion, that you can have a career, it's called raising children! a fine career that is!

Oh. I think maybe this was supposed to be poetry. Um, well, nope. Not poetry. Maybe . . . no, not even if I squint. Also, do you mean "business-like jobs"? I have no idea. Also, I support the right of women to raise children as their primary work. If they want to. And if they don't, well, dreams really don't require a penis to fulfill, as it turns out.

But of course, for some women, and notice I use the word women, because I feel that these females that go out and work do not have the title of "Lady" For some women that would be the end of life, a waste. . . . Some ladies feel differently. Being a wife and homemaker would bring no greater joy to me (Job wise.)

Well, if we're using "lady" as a title, you don't deserve it, either. No one in the US does. We don't have nobility. Why do you hate America? Look, I'm glad that you enjoy your life. That's nice. I'm not you. That doesn't make you better than me, it just makes us different. What is it with some people that everyone has to be exactly like them or they just can't be happy.

But women have it in their little heads that women have to make something of themselves in life, and being a housewife is not.

"Little heads"? Really? As if I am a child and don't know what I want a want and what makes me happy and what doesn't? Maybe your head is little, Katie, but mine isn't.

Sadly enough the title "Mr Mom" is used frequently in today's society. While the woman goes out and works the husband would stay home and care for the children, clearly in that situation the woman would be "Wearing the Pants"

Yes, the only way women can have power is to take it from men. Feminism is not a zero sum game. Men don't automatically lose when women win. We can all win. (If the only way for men to win is for women to lose, what exactly does that say about men, anyway? It's not feminists who hate men.) And plenty of men like being stay at home dads. That's what we call them, btw.

Curiously, this ends with a description of the Virtuous Woman (not "lady") from Proverbs. She worked. Color me confused.

You Can Have That Car In Any Colour You Want

As long as it's black. (I am somewhat misquoting Henry Ford.)

That was the first thing that came to mind when I read this defense of the traditional role of women at Ladies Against Feminism. The title of the post is "A Dream Deferred", which is really odd because the rest of that Langston Hughes quote is "is a dream denied", which would seem to contradict the entirety of the post, but who am I to expect consistency and logic from misogynistic fundys?

Every gift, passion, or longing we feel on our lives should be subject to the precepts of our Lord. From walking on the moon -to beating Thomas Edison’s patent record -to writing the screenplay for an Academy Award winning film -to becoming a wife and mother.

I’m convinced that every gift we have been given can be used to further the Kingdom through God-ordained means -I am further convinced that Christian young people (young women in particular) have believed the lie that we have been fed that tells us that the only way to realize our ambitions is to cast aside the sacred calling of our home -and, finally, I am convinced that, too often, we have used our dreams as an excuse to forsake the calling that we have been given by Christ -for so many of us, that calling will be towards our home.

Every gift can be used to further the Kingdom of God- unless you're a woman, in which case you don't have gifts so much as you have a uterus, start using it. If a dream deferred is a dream denied, then what is a dream that has been squashed, stamped out and discarded? Actually, Mr. Hughes has an answer for that one, too.

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

or

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

I'd say something else about dreams that come only in one colour, the same for you and me and all with two X's and no lucky Y, but c'mon, Langston Hughes. Can't beat that.